Silence still surrounds allegations that MP Māteni Tapueluelu has confronted his brother-in-law MP Siaosi Pōhiva during a PTOA Party meeting in Tongatapu last week.
It has also been reported that Siaosi has made an internal complaint about the confrontation.
On Tuesday night, Siaosi who is the Party’s secretary did not attend another Party meeting held at MP Tapueluelu’s Tongatapu 4 constituency.
When contacted by Kaniva News on Tuesday Tapueluelu did not deny the allegations. He told us he was willing to comment, but he was preparing to go to the Party meeting at Popua.
“I am happy to do so but [I am running out of time] for now,” he said.
He said he would make his comment later.
PTOA Core Team Leaders MP Sēmisi Sika and MP Siaosi were contacted for comment.
Previous row
This was the latest twist in months between the two bothers-in-law.
As Kaniva News reported in April last year, Tapueluelu accused MP Siaosi and other Party supporters of wrongly advising the late Prime Minister, ‘Akilisi Pōhiva, not to resign in April 2019 five months before he died.
Tapueluelu said if ‘Akilisi’s resignation had happened according to plan, he would have been able to assist a smooth transition of power and make sure the party still won the following premiership election. The Party was defeated after the 2019 premiership election.
Tapueluelu also accused Siaosi of engaging with people who were not Party MPs in power struggle which led to the demise of the party before the 2019 premiership election.
Siaosi told Kaniva News in a previous interview when questioned about Tapueluelu’s behaviours towards him he said he “was unmoved by it”.
That row between Tapueluelu and Siaosi led Party Leader Sika to call a meeting last year in an attempt to put an end to it.
As we reported at the time, those who attended that meeting had a head to head battle before they forgave each other.
Sika said at the time after the meeting the party’s core team had decided to accept the move by its members to restore their friendly relationships and stood together.
Eight months to go
Last week’s confrontation between the brothers-in-law appears to show one of them was still holding a grudge against the other.
Meanwhile, leaders of Tonga, New Zealand, Australia and US PTOA Movements split into two group of supporters with each either supporting Siaosi or Tapueluelu.
They both accused against each other of being power hungry.
With eight months to go before the November general elections the ongoing feuds within the PTOA party needed to be addressed immediately if they wanted to be in a better position to compete with the government’s backed PAK Party.
